Long-lost film footage ofThe Beatlesplaying on theBBC’sTop Of The Pops has reportedly been found and will be restored.
The band appeared on theiconicshow on 19 March 1964torecord performances of ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’, the A-side and B-side of a single releasedthe following day whichwent on to becometheir fourth UK Number One.
Like many early episodes ofTopOfThePops, however, the footage was not preserved by theBBCand it has not been seen fordecades.
Now, the film preservation group Film Is Fabulous have said that they were presented with a35mmBBC negative of the performanceat the recent British Film Collectors’ Convention in Surrey.
They claim the family of a deceased former industry professional passed the precious film to them, and they will work to restore the footage and return it to the BBC Archives. “Discussions will also be held with other parts of the corporation to ensure the content is made available to a wide audience,” Film Is Fabulous wrote on Facebook.
The Beatles on ToTPs
Film is Fabulous! is delighted to confirm the 35mm negative presented to John Franklin at the recent film convention in Oxted, contains the The Beatles first appearance on Top of the Tops. pic.twitter.com/hPvOjqPR8u
— filmisfabulous (@filmisfabulous) June 18, 2026
Describing the footage, the group said: “Recorded on the19thMarch 1964, at the BBC’s Television Theatre (since renamed The Shepherd’s Bush Empire), in London, the inserts beautifully captured the Fab Four at the height of Beatlemania.”
“Passages of the recording show the studio, the technicians, and the make-up ladies. There were four takes of the first song, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’,with two being aborted because of technical errors. During breaks, the Beatles openlyjoked, andcould be seen dancing to amuse themselves.”
Theyadded: “The other song, ‘You Can’t Do That’,had two takes. During the second of these recordings John Lennon pulled a funny face when the camera came in for a ‘close-up’.It’san amusing piece of Beatle history.”
The BBC routinely wiped and reused tapes during the 1960s, resulting in the loss of countless episodes of many of their most popular shows, includingTopOfThePops.If successfully restored, this would be the oldest surviving footage of the Fab Four on the show.
In other Beatles news,June 25 is set to be Global Beatles Day,commemoratingthe day in 1967when the four band members recorded the international satellite TV broadcast of ‘All You Need Is Love’.
The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd will be launching online and in-person events around the world to celebrate the band, while a colourised version of the broadcast will also be released for the first time.
The Fab Four are also going to be the subject of a four-film series by Sam Mendes, slated for a simultaneous release in April 2028. Set to starPaul MescalasPaul McCartney, Harris Dickinson asJohn Lennon, Joseph Quinn asGeorge Harrison, andBarry KeoghanasRingo Starr, each film will tell the story of the band from a different member’s point of view.
McCartney dropped his new album ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane‘ lastmonth, whichfeatured his first ever duet withStarron ‘Home To Us’.McCartney sat down withNME to look forwards and back on his extraordinary career, share his“excitement” at contributing to the new The Rolling Stones album,and alsoreveal if he has plans to retire.